ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Military history of Finland during World War II

Okay kiddo, let me tell you all about Finland's military history during World War II.

Finland is a country in Europe that was always trying to stay out of trouble, but when World War II broke out in 1939, Finland got caught up in the fighting.

The Soviet Union, which was a big country next door to Finland, wanted to take over some of Finland's land. So they attacked Finland and that started what is called the Winter War.

Now imagine playing a game of tag and you are running around, dodging and trying not to get caught. That's kind of what war was like for Finland. The Finnish soldiers were outnumbered by the Soviet soldiers, but they were small and fast, so they could hide and attack quickly.

The war was really tough for Finland because they didn't have a lot of supplies and it was really cold. But the Finnish soldiers didn't give up, they fought hard and managed to defend their land.

Eventually, the Soviet Union gave up and signed a peace treaty with Finland, but Finland had to give up some of their land.

A few years later in 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union and Finland thought they could take back some of the land they lost in the Winter War. So Finland joined in and started fighting alongside Germany, but they were not happy about it because they didn't really want to be fighting in another war.

This time, the Finnish soldiers were not as successful because they were fighting against some really powerful countries. But they held their own and managed to keep some land.

In 1944, Finland realized they were not going to win the war and they signed a peace treaty with the Soviet Union, giving up more land.

So that's the story of Finland's military history during World War II. It was tough, but the Finnish soldiers fought hard and did their best to protect their land.